The countdown is on: this time next week The Brick Box Ladies will be at SXSW, untrained and on the loose. One of us has been before, two of us are first timers, we are all really excited.

Navigating such a smorgasbord of exciting things to see and do is a challenge in itself so we’ve spent our recent snow days perusing the conference programme. The Cities Summit events look right up our street with talks on everything from reimagining the civic commons to community co-design and co-creating feminist cities. Also, there are ‘recap raps’ courtesy of SaulPaul – a handy musical catch up on what you missed. Genius.

But it’s the SXSW art programme which is really intriguing. Not only will we be sharpening our elbows to get in to see Shamir and the North American premiere of Mac Richter’s ‘Sleep’ concert, an 8-hour snoozey music thing, but the immersive tech-art smash ups looks brilliant. Top of our list is to see A Colossal Wave! by Marshmallow Laser Feast…

Plunge into a sub-aquatic virtual world that reacts to your every action. Sing unique marine “voicefruits” into life. Witness an explosion of colour under VR umbrellas as the giant virtual wave crashes over you. Merging slapstick with immersive technologies, A Colossal Wave! is a mixed reality experience exploring human impact on the natural world. Taking Newton’s third law as its inspiration, A Colossal Wave! serves as a timely reminder that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Singing unique marine voicefruits in to life? WE ARE IN.

Another thing that has really piqued our interest is Floating Destiny by Wan Who. This is an interactive art installation with live performance, where the audience can experience the hybrid melding of ancient and futuristic Chinese culture by changing geometric shapes which correspond to music.

On top of this, we can’t wait to see Ellsworth Kelly’s chapel of coloured light at the Blanton gallery. The late Kelly described the piece as “an experience akin to visiting the Rothko and Matisse chapels, in Houston and Vence, France, respectively.” Oh and then there’s the UNSECO Media Arts Installations, Herve Cohen’s Live Underground, The Notorious Art Collector of Amsterdam’s The Living Museum, the Faces of Austin Community Screening… you get the picture.

We’re also bringing a bit of live art of our own in the form of these SXSW FOMO Fortune Tellers. They’ll help you to avoid the ‘fear of missing out’ by magically guiding you on your way, so if you’re at SXSW do pick one up or Tweet us to find out where you can get one.

And if you ARE at SXSW, give us a shout and let’s do some art crimes together. If you’re not, we’ll report back soon.

What role can art play in highlighting places or themes that deserve more attention? This was the first question we were asked as part of the recent Borderlight conference in Milan last week.

Eleanor and I were honoured to be invited to this gathering to share our experiences and we met some truly inspiring people with socially engage creative practices with both resonated with our work in Bradford, and also helped us grow.

For a start, check out the badass subversive work of Maria Papadimitriou, artist and academic based in Greece.

We also loved hearing Nicholas Anastasopoulos (Urban Planner Researcher – School of Architecture of Athens – Greece) talk so eloquently about public space and the effects of the extraordinary circumstances in Greece.

Too many good chats and interesting ideas to mention really but of course huge thanks to Nicola, Gabi, Giulia, Simona and everyone for inviting us, hosting and making it happen! And high fives to Pietro’s snappy outfit (as well as his excellent words).

But back to that first question – how can art highlight places or themes that deserve more attention? Well, at The Brick Box, we use art as a prism through which to see things differently and further transformation of both spirit and place. We are an artist-led company with a socially engaged, place based practice. We are enablers and provocateurs, stimulating creative and economic growth, creating art in collaboration with others.

We create work with a pop culture aesthetic, using powerful juxtapositions and unusual locations to increase access to and participation in the arts. Through live art experiences we transform neglected spaces, bring people together and invite them to consider new possibilities.

Amongst our many adventures we have changed an abandoned department store into a surreal woodland, transformed ‘dangerous /no go’ areas into community discos, gathered people to tell stories round our Electric Fireside in back streets, loading bays and playgrounds, and fed people across London from our magical Toast Temple.

Our current projects (in development) involve exploring key elements of the history of our home city, Bradford: hidden rivers, invisible woodlands, and a tongueless wild boar. Universal themes and playful imaginative events allow us to rewrite our multiple narratives through a mass participatory arts project that will raise our collective power and give us our voice back.